What is Jorōgumo?
Jorōgumo is a spider yokai that takes the form of a beautiful woman to lure men and take their lives. Its name is usually written with characters meaning “courtesan spider,” while another writing, using Chinese characters meaning “binding bride,” is also used. The Edo-period artist Toriyama Sekien drew it in his 1776 yokai picture book Gazu Hyakki Yagyō as a woman manipulating fire-breathing baby spiders on threads. Edo-period ghost story collections such as Tonoigusa and Taihei Hyaku Monogatari also contain tales of spiders that turn into women.
The legend of Jōren Falls in Izu
At Jōren Falls in Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, there is a legend of a Jorōgumo who is the master of the falls. One day, a man resting near the falls found thin spider threads wrapping around his leg again and again. Suspicious, he wound the threads around a nearby tree stump, and the stump was dragged into the basin of the falls with tremendous force.
In another version, a woodcutter dropped his axe into the basin and dove in after it. A beautiful woman appeared, returned the axe, and told him never to tell anyone what he had seen there. He kept the promise for many years, but one day let it slip at a banquet, then fell asleep and never woke again.
The legend of Kashikobuchi in Sendai
There is a very similar tale at Kashikobuchi, a pool on the Hirose River in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. A man fishing beside the pool felt spider threads from the water wrapping around his leg again and again. When he moved the threads to a stump, the stump was pulled into the pool, and a voice from the water said, “Clever, clever (kashikoi).” This is said to be the origin of the name Kashikobuchi (“clever pool”). The Jorōgumo of Kashikobuchi was later worshipped as a god protecting against drowning, and a stone monument inscribed “Spirit of the Myōhō Spider” stands there.
The real jorō spider
A large spider called the jorō spider really lives in Japan. It is a beautiful spider with striking yellow and black stripes, and in autumn the females are often seen in their huge webs. Its venom is weak and harmless to people. Recently, jorō spiders that spread to the United States have made the news for tolerating cold and expanding their range.
Beliefs about spiders
In Japan, spiders have been considered both lucky and unlucky. The saying “A spider in the morning is lucky, so don’t kill it; a spider at night is unlucky” is still heard in many places. Some regions also took a spider coming down on its thread as a sign that an awaited visitor was coming. The many legends of Jorōgumo living in waterfalls and pools may come from the image of spiders spinning webs by the water combining with beliefs in water gods. The worship of the Kashikobuchi Jorōgumo as a god protecting against drowning reflects such beliefs.
Spider yokai
Because spiders catch their prey with fine threads, they have long been told of as frightening beings that lead people astray. Another famous Japanese spider yokai is the giant tsuchigumo slain by Minamoto no Yorimitsu. Other beings that lure men to the water in the form of a beautiful woman include the seaside nure-onna and the European legend of the Lorelei.
